Three-Dimensions: The Two-Dimensional Photo is now the Clever Illusion

So I started this whole thing thinking I was going to make a thirty-second animatic... then after realizing how ridiculously difficult that is to do and how long it tends to take I decided to do a still shot instead.

It started with the concept of this ad I made after last class:

It's for my housemate who wanted to start a production company. I say "wanted" because she hasn't mentioned anything since and I've already got a logo fit for a business card. The was made in illustrator, and I wanted to do an animatic in the program Lightwave with this same guy. Instead I just did a stillshot


I forgot how hard and time consuming this is, but I'll leave that just as such.

Also, minor correction to last weeks ad.

2-D Advertisement: The Person is now the Glorified Self-Image

For this project I decided to forego the use of Illustrator, and instead went with an open-source program known as "InkScape." It's free to use, and has a robust set of features. Somewhat unstable at times, but is overall a great program. For the bitmaps I used Photoshop, while there is certainly an open-source version of this (GIMP, also a great program), I know my way around Photoshop much better.
For this advertisement, let's assume I'm a comedian, whether I'm funny or not is unimportant. I used diagonal lines very strongly. I also took the idea of the curtain from a racing poster that flashed by in the movie Helvetica. From bottom-left to top-right is the double double-entendre of "He's out there, making you think." I chose the princeton font for the sake of being able to see clearly without hiding the curtain. The top-left to bottom-right shines the spotlight on myself, with information on the show at a particular "comedy club." It uses mostly black and white, with splashes of red and yellow.

Five Advertisements: The encryption is now the analysis.

My friend's father is an insurance agent in Linden, NJ. This is him on the billboard, and it says "the cheapest insurance." The whitespace in the background keeps your concentration on the foreground, also effectively utilizing positive/negative space. The font is Helvetica, and the pink font highlights the message and the phone number. The balance lies to the left where Mr. Gawel is smiling and pointing upwards, directing everyone to his message.


This 1959 budweiser ad is a combination of what looks like both drawing and photography. The font is playful for the logo, and the script seems handwritten. The caption is in an extremely "typographical" font, pointing out the matter-of-fact nature of what's being said. There are three layers that I see in this. The beer can and glass, the man at the table, and the background of the house. His eyes are leading us to what may be the best moment of his day.


I love this ad. It's to the point and cheeky. Why? The font is bold, loud, and distinguisable from a distance, with shadowing and italicization to further push its point. The background is the union jack, indicating the span of the paper's coverage... the design of the flag itself directs the eye to the center. Everything is centered and the message is clear: why haven't you read the sun? It's inexpensive and covers everything that happens here.


This is a great ad for the phantom of the opera. The font (dont know which one) is romantic to match the message: remember how great it was to see the phantom on broadway? The romanticism is played up by the black background and the only color being the rose near the mask. By the time you finish the sentence you arrive at the familiar symbol of the play, the sole occupier of the lower half of the billboard.



I think by posting this particular ad I've tainted my self-image amongst my classmates, but its so outrageous and awful I just had to make an example of it (here's a link to an ad that distills it down to just sex appeal) Long story short, Evony is a strategy game that has absolutely nothing to do with saving the queen, at all. The logo itself is a Time New Roman typeface bolded with a pattern laid into to give it a rustic yet distinguished look, reinforced by the shadowed font with excessive seriffs. The world inside the O and the map in the background are meant to convey the idea that this is a whole world to play around in. The position and balance is to the right... the sword indicating direction without the slightest sense of shame.

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